University Life- Modern AU HongIce
by Icyland
Summary: When Emil moves to America to attend an all new college, he is faced with all sorts of new calamities, from finding his classes to making new friends. However, when he is introduced to Leon, it all changes into a whirlwind of new experiences and new friends. How will he cope with all this change?
1. Author's Note

Hello there fellow HongIce shippers! Little authors note, bare with me please!

So, first and foremost, if you were planning on this leading into a lemon of any kind, please turn back now. I don't do that sort of thing, never have never will.

However, I _have _put a lot of honest effort into this story, and I hope you like it! Watch me on DA for more stories and updates- .com ^^


	2. Chapter 1- New Country New School

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Modern AU HongIce- University Life

_"__Another day, another incredibly unfortunate series of events._" I thought to myself as I parked my car. Today would be my first day at my new college, in a new city.

But not just a new city, but a new country as well. I'd lived in Iceland as a child, then in Norway with my so-called adoptive 'brother,' and now we'd moved to America.

Lukas couldn't have waited until I at least finished my first year of university to move, _no_ he had to move right in the middle of my second semester. I was being shoved into a completely new environment in the middle of freaking March!

"_Maybe you can just pretend your bad english is really bad english."_ I continued to try to find some way to delay my enrollment at the school, though I was already stepping out of the car and walking up the steps into the administrative building.

Gauken Hetalia University enrolled students from all over the world, and it was thanks to their oh-so-convenient exchange program that Lukas moved us when he did.

I quickly shuffled down the hall, relieved to see that this particular building didn't seem to be that busy. The only person in the hall was a blonde headed student carrying an armful of textbooks. However, the lack of people made it a bit harder to find anything, as it took me ten minutes and two wrong turns to locate the main office. Frankly I was a little annoyed by the time I reached the receptionist, a red headed woman who seemed more engrossed in her nail polish than her work.

Once I finally got her attention, she quickly pointed me to an office with an irritable sigh, automatically going back to her own business as soon as she'd answered my question. I muttered a 'takk' before knocking on the door, unsure of rather or not it was okay to barge in uninvited.

The door practically flew off it's hinges a moment after my fist left the surface, a tall man with a rather impressive build dragging me into the office like a rag doll. "Hello, my boy I'm Romulus Vargas, dean of Gauken Hetalia University!" He practically yelled, shoving me towards a chair in the center of the room.

Tripping over my own feet, I fell backwards into said chair, though Romulus didn't seem to notice. He instead took a seat on the other side of his desk and snatched a few papers off his desk, quickly offering them to me.

"Here's your schedule and dorm number, smile!" He snapped a picture of me while he handed me the papers, causing me to blink in surprise.

"I figured, new school, new photo ID!" His cheerful attitude was a bit difficult to track. As he typed a few things on a laptop, I took the opportunity to glance down at my schedule. Luckily, all the classes I'd signed up for back home were available here as well, but I was taking the bare minimum, aside from a german course and an ancient lore and mythology class.

"Okay, here you go, your dorm key and your student ID! Keep those with you. Now then, do you have any questions?" Mr. Vargas finally calmed down, leaning on his arms over the desk in anticipation. "Uhm…" I racked my brain for any kind of questions I could have.

"No? None? Alright, well if you ever need anything just come ask! Oh, and one of my grandsons either Feli or Lovi should be outside, they'll show you to your dorm. They look like this." He turned a picture on his desk around that showed two boys with very different demeanors, one looked quite angry and the other looked free and careless.

"The grumpy one's Lovino, and the happy one's Feliciano." He turned the picture back around as I stood up.

"Tak- uh thanks for your help." I nodded to him before quickly leaving, wanting nothing more than to find my dorm and be done for the day. I didn't have to enroll into any classes until next week anyways.

As I exited the building, able to find my way out much faster than I found my way in, I spotted one of the two boys Mr. Vargas had pointed out.

Lovino was sitting on a park bench munching on a tomato and looking generally pissed off. A bit nervous, I tapped him on the shoulder, getting his attention.

"The hell you want?" He asked me, barely glancing up from his snack.

"I just enrolled and you're supposed to help me find my dorm." I growled, my irritation growing.

"Oh…alright come on then." He grumbled, standing and walking off without even waiting for me.

"Well he seems like a _wonderful_ guy."


	3. Chapter 2- Settling In

"Down the hall, you can read numbers can't you?" Lovino muttered sarcastically.

"Of course I can, I'm from Iceland not another planet." I snapped back.

"Alright, alright. But consider yourself lucky…not having to share a room with anyone. I've got to share one with that Antonio jerk…" He grumbled, apparently more than ready to be rid of me.

"Uh, thanks Lovino." I cut his rant short. The italian only glanced at me irritably, muttering "Whatever, you're welcome.", walking off in the opposite direction.

As I shuffled towards the end of the hall searching for the right dorm number, a sort of excitement I hadn't felt prior began welling up inside me.

This was a completely new experience, I mean, why wouldn't I be excited?

"Ah here it is, number 333." I quickly slipped my key into the last door in the hall, pushing it open with a soft creak.

Inside, the room was relatively plain. The only things inside were a double bed, a small desk, and a window with a small ledge.

"I thought colleges only had twin beds, but I'm not complaining." I spoke to myself as I set my schedule down on the mattress. The room was rather small, about 3x3 meters (10x10 feet) with plain grey walls and a small door against the wall to my left.

"I wonder what that could be…?" I stepped over to the other door, gently pulling the handle. Upon opening the door, I discovered another small room.

"Where's the light switch, I can't see anything in here." I groped the wall for a switch, finally finding one and flipping it on.

As the small room was illuminated, I couldn't help but mutter a small "Hell yeah." The room was a bathroom. One of the things I'd feared the most about starting college here was sharing a bathroom with other people. It's not that I have anything against them it's just, I'm insecure so the privacy's appreciated.

"I didn't think they even made dorms with bathrooms in them." I continued to stand in the doorway, admiring the room. It was really such a simple thing, but it was a huge relief for me. The room was done up quite similar to the actual dorm,with grey walls and a smaller window adjusted near the ceiling to vent out the room, I guessed.

Once I'd finished inspecting the room, I turned and walked towards the door, figuring I should get my belongings put away before it got dark outside.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Timeskip of moving stuff in~~~~~~~~~~~~

After I finished carrying all my boxes up to my room, it seemed to be a bit more lively than when I'd originally arrived, several students shuffling in and out of their dorms, some carrying books and papers, others carrying nothing at all.

I wasn't sure if these were the quiet or loud dorms, but the considerable amount of chatter and music from my fellow students told me I'd picked loud. Not that I minded.. My dorm was separated enough that I didn't think it would be a problem when I was studying.

Closing my door, I let out a deep sigh, glancing at the stacks of boxes I had to unpack.

"Maybe I'll just make my bed and unpack everything tomorrow." I grumbled, glancing at my phone and seeing it was already ten thirty. The only problem was none of my boxes were labeled since I'd had to ship them, so it was anyone's guess which box held what.

"This is going to take a while.." All my prior excitement seemed to disappear at the aspect of having to go through all the boxes, but I guessed it was unavoidable. I'd have to sort through them all anyways.


	4. Chapter 3- New Friends

"Hey, hey! Emil? Is this the wrong dorm? EMIII-IILL!" I awoke with a start to someone shouting my name.

"Who the hell…?" Standing from my position on the floor where I'd apparently fallen asleep, I shuffled over to the door, snatching the handle and pulling it open.

"Emil!" I had no time to react as I was suddenly tackled, causing me to fall backwards onto the ground, taking an excitable italian with me.

"Hvað í fjandanum?!" I shouted, my head hitting the floor with a crack.

"Oh mio dio! I'm-a sorry!" The boy I now recognized as the dean's other grandson Feliciano scrambled to help me up.

"I didn't mean to-a do that! White flag, white flag!" He proceeded to cover his head, producing a small white flag from his pocket and waving it around spastically. I guess this guy's gotten picked on a bit before…? That or he was just crazy.

"Hey, it's alright, I'm fine. You're Feliciano, yes?" I tried to calm him down, otherwise I feared the poor kid would go into a panic attack.

Feliciano removed his hands from his head at this point, glancing up at me.

"So you're not mad?" His voice sounded like someone would attack him at any moment.

"No, of course not, it was an accident; Þetta reddast." I waved my hand in a nonchalant manner, sitting back on my heels. Feliciano stared at me with a blank expression for a moment.

"What did-a you say?"

"Oh, Þetta reddast, it's a saying in Iceland, it pretty much means things will work themselves out, no harm done." I quickly explained the expression from my homeland.

"Oh! Well, uh anyways, I guess you are probably wondering why I'm-a here right? My fratello Lovi told me about you and I thought I could introduce you to some of my friends! Then, if you want I could help you get your books since you start classes tomorrow!" Feliciano bounced around a bit as he talked, his happy demeanor wildly different from his brothers'.

"S-sure.. that sounds great Feliciano, takk." I glanced down at the half-opened boxes scattered about the room, wondering which one had my clothes in it.

"Okay-a well whenever you're ready I'll be downstairs, oh and call me Feli!" He waved goodbye and closed the door, leaving me to find my belongings.

~~~~~~~~~~~Mini Timeskip of Getting Ready~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I wonder what Feli meant by downstairs..?" I stepped off the stairs to the first floor. All around were chairs and couches, places to 'hang out', as the Americans say.

"Heey Emil!" I turned around, spotting Feli sitting on an upholstered chair near a wall that was made up almost completely of glass."Ready to-a go meet my friends?" He stood from his spot as I approached him, shoving a sketchpad under his arm.

"Y-yeah sure." I was frankly a bit intimidated by the prospect of meeting new people, especially if they were even half as excitable as him.

Seeming to sense my nervousness, Feli grabbed me by the wrist, dragging me out the door and down a paved pathway. "It'll be fine my friends are super nice!" He reassured me as we walked towards another large brick building.

The second we entered the building, the smell of coffee and spices filled my nose. Feli quickly led me down a single set of stairs and into a little coffee shop I'd never expect to be there. He stopped then, apparently looking for someone. After a moment, he spotted the group he was looking for, dragging me to a large booth in the far corner.

There sat six people, two of them arguing quite animatedly, the rest chatting in more manageable tones. When a blonde headed male at the edge of the booth spotted Feli however, he quickly shushed the rest of the conversations.

A touch of fear swelled in my chest as all six sets of eyes laid on me, causing me to look away shyly. However, one set of honey brown eyes caught my attention.

"Hey everybody! Thanks for meeting up here, I wanted to introduce you all to Emil. He just moved here from-ah where did you say you were from?" Feli nudged me gently, causing me to look up.

"Ah I'm from Iceland, h-hallo." My accent grew thick with nervousness, my palms becoming slightly sweaty.

"Why not just go around the circle and introduce yourselves and say where you're from?" Feli waved his hands around a bit as he spoke.

"I'm Ludwig, from Germany." The blonde headed male from before at the farthest left of the circle spoke first.

"I'm zhe awesome Gilbert from Germany! Ludwig's mein kleinen bruder, by the way."

"Kon'nichiwa, my name is Kiku, my home is Japan."

"It's nice to meet you, I'm Mei! I'm from Taiwan!"

"Ni hao I'm Yao, from China, aru."

"…"

I didn't even notice when the final person in the booth hadn't spoken, my gaze lost in those iridescent pools of honey.

"Aiyah Leon don't be rude!" Yao nudged his arm, causing him to shake his head as he was pulled from his stupor.

"I'm uh..I'm Leon…from Hong Kong…" He quickly looked away, blushing slightly.

"_Oh great I creeped him out, staring at him like that." _My mind was quick to scold me.

"And I'm Feliciano from Italy!" Feli regained everyone's attention.

"But wait, where's Yong Soo?" Mei asked, glancing around at the others.

"Oh, I just noticed he isn't here." Yao muttered.

"Who's Yong Soo?" I asked, finally gaining enough courage to at least speak.

"I am, da-ze!" A pair of arms reached around me from behind, grabbing my chest.

"Hvað í fjandanum?!" I yelled for the second time that day, leaping forward in surprise, a dark blush coating my face.

"Aiyah Yong Soo! Don't scare him!" Yao immediately scolded the other. Apparently this was a normal thing for this group, gauging by the nonchalant expressions from most of the booth.

Leon seemed to be the only one who was upset, his face was slightly flushed and he was staring ahead intently, appearing somewhat out of focus. There was a strange expression playing on his face as well.

"Ah, Þetta reddast. It's alright." I tried to laugh off the rather awkward moment, though truly I wasn't exactly happy about being groped by someone I didn't even know.

"See? Emil clearly understands that friendly groping originated in _my_ homeland, Korea!" Yong Soo put an arm around my shoulder, grinning widely. It was apparent this guy didn't know much about personal space, seeing as I could only imagine what I looked like; an awkward blushing mess, certainly.

"Haha, anyways, do-a you guys want to get going?" Feli tried to assist in defusing the situation. "I've got to get to work by five, so I wanted to make sure we have plenty of time between now and then." Most of the booth nodded their consent, while I stood with a blank expression painted on my face.

"Where are we going?" I asked, having not been informed of any outings prior.

"To get pasta of course!"

**Hvað í fjandanum- What the hell (Icelandic)**

**Oh mio dio- Oh my goodness (Italian)**

**Þetta reddast- Icelandic expression basically everything will work itself out (It doesn't cognate very well, since it's an expression ^^)**

**Takk- Thanks (Icelandic)**


	5. Chapter 4- Italian Cuisine

All the way to the restaurant, which was only about a block away from campus, it was relatively calm. Mei and Yao both had extra classes they had to attend, and Gilbert had to work, so in the end it was a bit more of a manageable group than before.

Feli and Ludwig walked ahead of Kiku and Yong Soo, I followed them, and Leon trailed slightly behind.

"_Why the hell did you have to stare at him?! You probably totally creeped him out! He can't even stand walking next to you!" _I knew I was overthinking, but I couldn't help it. I stuffed my hands in my pockets, wondering how I'd be able to patch up such an awkward fumble.

"Okay were-a here!" Feli yelled, beaconing everyone inside. The restaurant felt warm and inviting, many of the fixtures and decorations done up in greens, whites, and reds, the colors of the italian flag. It seemed to be not too fancy, but not too casual either. A perfect place for college students to come hang out.

But what really captivated me was the walls. They were all painted with scenes depicting different locations in Italy. My jaw dropped slightly, as I stared at the beautiful paintings.

Of course, there was art in Iceland and Norway, but this was so different. It felt like I could step through the paintings and be in Venice, at the colosseum, anywhere.

Seeing that I'd stopped, Leon walked to my side, nudging my shoulder gently.

"Like, everybody's already at the table." He sounded rather uncomfortable.

"O-oh sorry, I guess I got lost in the paintings." I scratched the back of my head awkwardly, swearing inwardly at my stupid response.

His eyes dulled a bit. "Ah, yeah like, Feliciano did them."

My jaw would have dropped again if I didn't stop it.

"Really? that's so amazing! But maybe I'm just overreacting because art's not the most popular thing where I'm from.." I sighed slightly, awestruck by the murals.

"Yeah, I guess if it's not around you a lot. He _is _very good at landscapes and the like-." It seemed Leon was growing tired of talking about someone else's accomplishments.

"Hey guys! Come over here, da-ze!" Yong Soo suddenly shouted across the restaurant, earning him several dirty looks from the other customers. Leon and I both shuffled to the table rather quickly, trying to avoid him yelling again.

"You idiot, you didn't need to shout." Leon grumbled as he and I took the last two seats between Kiku and Feliciano.

"I know, but you guys wouldn't pay attention to me, da-ze!" Yong Soo complained, crossing his arms over his chest. Leon's only response was a small sigh of annoyance before he stood his menu up on the table, sufficiently blocking his view of the other.

"_I probably should look for something as well." _ I thought, snatching a menu off the table and beginning to scan its contents. To my dismay however, most of the menu's items were things I'd never heard of before. There were italian restaurants where I'm from of course, but not many and it wasn't every day Lukas let me go out. He _was_ a bit of a tightwad about that sort of thing, and it wasn't like I was a social butterfly on my own.

While I was distracted with the menu, a waiter approached the table. Without even looking up, I could tell who it was.

"You know me, I'm not going to-a waste my sweet time introducing myself. Are you-a freaking ready to order or what?" Lovino's gruff tone caused me to panic a little as I still hadn't decided what do get.

"Fratello don't be rude!" Feliciano scolded him, though Lovino simply ignored this.

"Are-a you all going to order or what?" Lovino quickly made eye contact with everyone at the table, catching my unsure expression. "What? Have you never eaten italian food before?" His voice was dripping with sarcasm.

"A-actually…no, not really?" I cursed my voice as it raised in pitch slightly. Gott, I sounded like an idiot. Lovino and Feliciano both gasped, staring at me and making me feel rather awkward.

"Are-a you serious?" Feliciano smacked his hands flat against the table. I nodded in response. "Then you have to try our pizza, no our pasta, I can't believe it you've never had mmph-" Ludwig clamped his hand over the other's mouth.

"I don't remember if I ever apologized for him." He sighed, seeming rather embarrassed by his friend's antics. Or were they friends? It wasn't the time to ask that sort of question.

"Uh..it's okay. I'll just try whatever you suggest." I nodded to Lovino, assuming he'd pick something he considered acceptable. The rest of the table ordered then, all seeming to know what they wanted, and Lovino swiftly returned to the kitchen to place our orders.

"So-a what did you think?" Feliciano glanced over at me, stacking the rest of the dishes in the center of the table.

"Well, it's definitely a lot better than Norwegian food. I'd give it five stars." I chuckled lightly, leaning back in my chair. Lovino had decided on a pasta dish I can't pronounce, which was excellent once I figured out how to pick it up with a fork.

Glancing through a nearby window, I saw that it had indeed began to rain.

"Man, how are we going to get back to campus?" I thought aloud, listening to the raindrops pelting the window.

"Zhat _is _quite zhe problem." Ludwig replied to my thought, catching a quick look at the window. "I suppose we'll have to walk a little faster."

"Okay everybody! It was really nice getting to spend some time with you! But now I've got to get to work." Feliciano waved to the group before rushing off to the kitchen.

"Wow, time sure does fly.." Kiku muttered. It was five o'clock already. As everyone started to stand, preparing to leave, a crucial thought crossed my mind.

"I haven't gotten my textbooks yet." I continued with the others towards the door, wondering what to do. However, my fears were quickly put to rest.

"I could, like show you where to get your books. It's in the campus store and I need to grab something from there anyways." Leon spoke nonchalantly.

"Oh, thanks Leon. It means a lot that you'd help me even though we pretty much just met. I shyly responded. God I need to work on my people skills.

"No problem, Ice." His stoic expression lifted ever so slightly for a moment, before quickly going blank again. A confused expression slipped over my face before quickly being replaced with a small smile.

As I skimmed the restaurant, I realized everyone else had already left, rushing to their dorms to cram for their next test or finish last-minute homework like all of us did on Sunday nights.

"So, shall we go?" I smirked slightly, pushing the door open.

"Not like the rain's going to stop for us." Leon walked out onto the pavement with me following, the rain automatically blinding us both.

"Okay, this way." He sprinted off down the street, not waiting for me to catch up. Though I'm not the fastest, and I had a bit of a difficult time keeping up with him.

"Almost there..-" He took a sharp right, almost causing me to slip. We were back on campus, the trees and buildings around us stopping a bit of the rain, but not much. Leon slowed his pace somewhat then, and I was quite glad for it as I felt a small wheeze growing in my chest.

"You alright?" He questioned me, apparently hearing my breathing. I nodded, coughing into my arm as we hurried down the path and into another building.

Only once we were inside did I realize how wet our clothes were, my shirt was practically saturated and sticking to my body uncomfortably, and Leon's large sleeves were dripping water onto the floor.

"Gott, I'm soaked." I complained, the chill of the air conditioner only making it worse. Leon glanced over at me, holding his arms up slightly.

"At least you don't have like, ten pounds of wet sleeves to deal with." He attempted to pull his sleeves up, only for them to pull themselves back down from their weight.

"Well, let's get everything and get back to the dorms..I want to get out of these clothes as soon as possible." I could feel the cold seeping into my skin. At least Leon was protected from the freeze of the air conditioner with his long sleeves.

"Good idea." He muttered, leading the way to a section of the store that looked like a miniature library. After pointing out who to talk to, he shuffled down an isle to get whatever it was he needed, leaving me to myself.


	6. Chapter 5- Nicknames and Rainy Days

"Thank you for your help." I nodded to the belgian girl behind the desk.

"Anytime." She waved slightly, watching as I struggled to gather all my books in my arms.

"Here, let me help." Leon snatched a few of the books off the top of my pile, much to my relief.

"Thanks." I wheezed slightly when I spoke. He was carrying a small bag as well, the contents a mystery to me.

As we quickly made our way to the door, I grumbled in annoyance, the rain had only gotten worse since we'd gotten there. Luckily the dorms weren't too far…at least they didn't appear to be too far.

"There's no making a run for it this time." I muttered. "How am I going to keep from drenching these books?"

Just as I stepped outside however, a click caused me to turn my head. Leon stood, holding an umbrella over the both of us.

"I'm one step ahead of you." He smirked cockily.

We walked back in near silence, still getting slightly wet as the wind forced the rain in strange patterns around us.

But soon enough the dorms came into view, causing me to let out a breath. Leon closed the umbrella as I pushed the door open, allowing him to walk in first.

"So like, where is your dorm?" He questioned.

"Ah, all the way up on the fifth floor, number 333." I walked to the elevator. There was no way I'd carry all these books up five flights of stairs. Leon stepped in with me, pushing the fifth and third floor buttons.

"I'm number 204, on the third floor." He muttered. I nodded in understanding, gently taking the books from him and stacking them on top of the others.

"You sure you'll be okay?" He asked, clearly concerned I'd hurt myself, or something like that.

"Ah, I'll be fine." I tried to smile it off, though the books _were_ quite heavy.

"If you're sure. But if you do need any help, text me." He pulled a black smartphone out of his pocket.

Struggling to reach into my own pocket, I pulled my own phone out, unlocking it and offering it to him, since I didn't have an extra hand.

I could almost feel the smirk on his lips as he typed his number into my phone, slipping it back into my pocket and stepping out of the elevator.

On the fourth floor, a tall girl with short whitish-blonde hair stepped on, humming softly to herself and pressing the sixth floor button.

After a minute I noticed her looking at my sopping wet clothes and I began to wonder how stupid I must look, rushing out of the elevator and unlocking my dorm as soon as the doors opened.

"Phew…now to get out of these clothes." I muttered, setting my books on the windowsill and pulling my shirt over my head.

After a quick shower and a few minutes shuffling through my boxes for something dry to wear, I was ready to finish unpacking. I'd have to wash my clothes later, since I frankly had no idea where to go, nor anything to wash them with.

"Adjusting to a new school certainly is tedious." I spoke to myself, grabbing a box full of school supplies and starting to put them away in my desk.

Just then, a loud boom of thunder cracked the silence of my room, causing me to jump, my wheeze reappearing.

"Damn storm stressing me out.." I set the box on the desk and grabbed another, rummaging through it's contents until I found my inhaler.

"I guess I have to start carrying this thing around with me." I growled, exhaling before placing the object against my lips. I wouldn't mind the inhaler if it didn't taste so odd, it was indescribable; all I can say about it is that it doesn't taste good by any means.

As I held in my breath, there was a soft knock at my door, almost cautious. I quickly released my air, quietly snatching the handle and opening the door.

In the doorway was the same girl from the elevator.

"Ah I-I'm sorry to bother you but it's just that I think you dropped this." She held out a black iPhone. Taking it from her, I turned it over. The case was a neon drawing of a skyline.

"Oh, I think this is my friends'. But thank you for returning it." I nodded to her, wondering how our phones had gotten switched in the first place.

"It's no problem at all! Say, I haven't been seeing you around before. It may just be because the school is very large and all…" Her sentence trailed off.

"Oh, no, well yes the school is quite large, but I just transferred here yesterday, uh my name is Emil, I'm from Iceland." I held my hand out to her.

"Ah so you are new! I'm Katyusha, from Ukraine." She smiled gently, shaking my hand.

"It's nice to meet you Katyusha, but if you would excuse me, I probably should get this back to my friend. He may be worrying about it." I shook Leon's phone lightly.

"Ah, yes of course, how silly of me! Well, I hope to be seeing you around Emil." She clasped her hands in front of her, walking back towards the elevator.

"She seems nice." I muttered, turning my attention to Leon's phone. "_I really shouldn't snoop…" _I started towards the door, but stopped myself. "_I should check to make sure it's his then I'll take it back. It would probably look quite odd if I retuned something that wasn't his._" I swiped my thumb across the screen, the phone unlocking.

"_He doesn't even have a passcode_." I thought to myself, tapping gently on the glass of the screen. His wallpaper was an ink drawing of a panda, all the apps in Chinese. Tapping on the photo app, I was immediately certain it was his phone. The currently opened album was almost completely full of his selfies.

"Oh gott.." I muttered, laughing inwardly at the faces he made in the handful of pictures I looked at. "Well, now that I'm sure it's his, I should probably return it to him." I was just about to walk out of my room when the phone vibrated.

Glancing at the screen, I saw a message from my phone.

"Thnk i lst my phn"

I hesitated for a moment before replying.

"Yeah it's Ice, u dropd it in the lvtr aprntly."

There was a moment of pause.

"O."

"Ur drm nmbr is 333 rght?"

"Yeah."

"K great im cmn up."


	7. Chapter 6- You dropped your phone!

I locked his phone, walking to my door and opening it slightly.

"Well this is great.." I sat back at the desk, continuing to unpack my boxes in an attempt to look casual. As I thought, only a moment after, Leon walked in, knocking on the door as he pushed it open.

"Sort of defeats the purpose of knocking if you're just going to walk in doesn't it?" I teased, spinning around in my chair to face him.

"Like, you shouldn't leave it open if you don't want people to come in." He countered, closing the door behind him. He was wearing a pair of black skinny jeans and a red tshirt, black socks covering his feet.

Leaning casually against the wall, Leon watched as I pulled a stack of notebooks from another box, setting them on top of the desk. It was clear he was in no rush to have his phone returned, not that I minded his company.

"So, like you have this whole dorm to yourself?" His voice had a slight tinge of jealous curiosity.

"Yeah." Simple as that.

"Kinda lonely, huh?" He questioned, glancing into some of the opened boxes on the floor.

"Yeah, I'm kind of used to it though. My so-called brother was always getting dragged around by his friend Mathias…" My sentence trailed off.

"Ah, I like, always had the exact opposite problem! Yao, Kiku, Mei, Yong Soo, and I all lived together, and there was never a quiet moment…not to mention all the fighting." He sighed slightly, shuffling through one of the boxes. When I turned around to see what he was doing, he didn't seem to notice me anymore, or was ignoring me. He quickly went from one box to another until he found what he was looking for. He flipped a box upside-down onto my bed, all my bedding exploding out of the top.

"What're you doing?" I inquired, trying not to sound rude, but still getting my point across.

"Well, since I don't want to go back to my dorm and listen to Yong Soo blast 'Gangnam Style' for the rest of the night, I'm going to help you unpack." He stated matter-of-factly, starting to make the bed. I pondered his statement for a moment before shrugging, turning back to my desk.

"_If you want to spend your evening digging through boxes, be my guest_." I thought, placing the last of my school supplies in my desk.

I was practically finished hanging my clothes on the single bar in the closet when another crash of thunder shook the building, causing me to jump in surprise.

Leon seemed relatively unfazed, but when he saw my poorly concealed anxiety his expression changed ever so slightly.

"You alright Ice? You're pail."

"Y-yeah I'm fine." I cursed my asthma and my damn fears. It was obvious I was wheezing when I spoke.

"Are you sure?" He had snuck up on me when I wasn't looking.

I panicked slightly as he pressed his large hand against my forehead, my pail complexion flushing with embarrassment.

"You're warm…" He muttered.

Unable to take the awkwardly small distance between us, I took a step towards my desk.

"Yeah, I uhm…I have stress-induced asthma." I muttered, embarrassed. Not so much about the asthma; more of the reason for being stressed.

Leon nodded in understanding, uttering a small 'oh' before sitting back down on the bed.

"That explains the wheezing, but what's stressing you out?" He spoke in a soft tone, asking the question my pride would not allow me to answer.

"Is it me? Because if, like, me being here and trying to make friends with you and be social is stressing you out I can just leave." He took a step towards the door, his entire demeanor changing from concern to irritation in a snap.

"NO! I uh, I mean, no. It's not your fault." I was wheezing quite heavily now.

"Then what is it?" He was calmer now, but his facial expression was still the same straight line it always was. It was impossible to see if he was truly calm or not.

"…It's embarrassing…" I looked away, my hands in my lap.

Once again silence fell between us.

"Okay, I'll, like, make you a deal. Apparently, you don't trust me to keep your secret, so I'll tell you mine first." He looked at me from his spot leaning against my bed, his eyes squinted just slightly. "It's a win-win situation, you'll gain my secret and I'll try to help you with yours." It really _did _sound like a good deal…

"Okay, fine." I nodded in agreement, pulling my legs up onto the chair and wrapping my arms around them.

Leon sighed, apparently hoping I'd reject his deal, or otherwise going back on himself and rethinking the decision he just made.

"Okay, so like, don't laugh, because I've only ever told one person this." There was a speck of nerves in his voice that I couldn't quite pin down. "But I'm…." He sighed. "I'm afraid of the dark."

Leon closed his eyes, expecting me to tease him. However, when no such response came, he looked up at me expectantly.

"I told mine, now tell yours..!" I tried not to smile at the barely noticeable blush on his cheeks and the rushed way he was speaking.

"Alright, alright…" I took a shaky breath as a soft rumble of thunder rang outside the window. "I'm afraid of thunderstorms." I reached for my inhaler, taking a shot as I waited for his reaction.

"That's not that bad. A lot of people are scared of storms." He relaxed a bit, smoothing out the blankets on my bed and laying down.

A wave of relief washed over me as I moved to my closet to start putting my clothes away, wanting nothing more than to be done unpacking.

"I like the rain and the snow…but thunder and lightning? It's a giant bolt of electricity from the sky, like oden's trying to punish someone. And thunder's just so loud.." I let my explanation trail off.

After a few seconds he sat up, stacking the empty boxes in the corner and setting another box on my bed. The deafening silence in the room only lasted a moment though, as it was suddenly filled with his ill-concealed laughter.

Spinning on my heels to face him, a blush automatically covered my face as I saw which box he had opened; one filled with different momentous from my childhood.

In Leon's hand was a framed photograph, the size and shape of which I automatically identified as…_that picture._ 'That' picture prior mentioned was a photo of Lukas and I when we were children…not a particularly bad subject except for the fact that I was wearing a dress..a pink floral pattern dress..

"Don't say anything." I snatched the picture from a laughing Leon, my face hot with embarrassment.

"But Icey you were so cute!" He cooed, rolling over and hiding his face in my pillows. While he was distracted I took the box and shoved it under my bed, quickly flipping the photo around in its' frame and hiding it as well.

"S-shut up.." There was no real power in my voice as I sat on the edge of the bed, pushing his leg and causing him to fall off.

He hit the floor with a thud, still laughing hysterically while I glared daggers into the back of his head.

After a few moments he regained his composure, sitting up and leaning against my nightstand. All the while I sat with my arms crossed, refusing to look at him.

"Oh come on Ice." He leaned against my leg, trying but failing to pull my attention to him as he continued to giggle.

"You said you wouldn't laugh at me." I growled sharply, pulling my legs up onto the bed. Leon took a moment to attempt to stifle his laughter before he spoke again.

"Okay okay I'm sorry, but you have to admit you were like, freaking adorable as a kid." He pushed. I sighed, practically at my wit's end.

"I was not adorable!" Even though this conversation is going nowhere, I still feel the need to argue with him.

"Yes you are adorable- wait I mean…!" Leon blushed fiercely at this crucial fumble.

"W-what?!" I stuttered, my expression a mixture of shock and confusion.

"Oh would you look at the time! I've got to get back to my dorm before Yong Soo finds the alcohol…see you!"

With that, Leon dashed out of the room rather ungracefully, slamming the door behind him.

"That was…." I couldn't think of the word.

"What did he mean by that?" I stood from my bed and began pacing the room, searching in my mind for some kind of explanation.

"If he just said the wrong word, he would have corrected himself, if he was talking about something else, he would have said it. The fact that he ran out so fast _and _he didn't correct himself leads me to only one possible conclusion…. But that can't be right, I mean who would think something like that about someone like me?" I was now standing in front of my mirror. I wasn't really what you'd call a first choice. Untamed whitish-blonde hair, pail skin, not a bit of muscle…really what was it he found 'adorable'?

"I'll just have to sleep on it." I shrugged to myself, it was nine anyways. Yes, a bit early for me to go to sleep, but there wasn't much else I could do at this point other than linger on what he said.

I flicked off the light switch and fumbled through the darkness to find my bed, a strike of lightning illuminating the room for only a second before the room was bathed in darkness again.

My mind rushed from one thought to another as I pulled the covers over my head, moving back until my body was pressed against the wall.

"_Just sleep on it…_" I told myself. However, Leon's lingering scent surrounded me, causing my mind to focus on him. It was impossible to relinquish my thoughts to another topic, I was stuck thinking about him.

Was it possible… that I maybe felt something for him? No, we just met. There's no such thing as love at first sight…

Right?


	8. Chapter 7- Late on the first day?

The next morning, I woke up at nine. Unfortunately for me, my volcanic and techtonic science class was at nine thirty and I had absolutely no idea which building was the correct one.

"Fjandinn, I'm going to be late!" I rushed to the science building, sprinting inside and searching for lecture hall B

Rushing up the stairs, I saw the room I was looking for, slowing down and stepping inside. I must've looked like a mess, but I wanted nothing more than to be on time.

The other students all seemed to turn and look at me, causing my face to heat up in nervousness.

"You the Icelandic transfer?" The teacher, an old grey-haired man asked. I glanced around the room, for a moment I forgot where I was and where I came from.

"Oi, you speak English or what?" He snapped grumpily. His patience was already wearing thin.

"J-ja, sorry sir." I shyly responded.

"Good, take a seat over there. You're late." He pointed with his pen to a chair on the other side of the room. Apparently this guy wanted to make things inconvenient for me. However, I didn't complain, shuffling over to the indicated spot and sitting down.

"Now, as I was saying, to understand how tectonic plate movements lead to the formation of volcanoes we need to look into-…" I tuned the teacher out, scribbling in my notebook as I thought about the location of my next class.

_"__I only have three classes today, so there will be plenty of extra time to find out where the rest of them are, and hopefully I'll be able to avoid another mixup like this." _I worked my plan out in my head.

Glancing down at my notebook, I realized my scribbles had turned into a doodle of Leon. I quickly erased it, and tried to pay a little attention to the lesson.

"Now the plates have three different kinds of boundaries-…" I was once again distracted by my phone vibrating in my pocket.

Quickly snatching up the device, I saw it was a text from Leon.

"ru mad?" It read.

I quickly typed back a response.

"y wud i b mad?"

I wanted to confirm he was thinking of the same thing I was thinking about, his response was immediate.

"cuz i cald u adorbs thn jst ran out lik a losr."

I wasn't sure what to say.

"o…wl im nt md, jst tht it ws a bt odd. no 1's evr cld me adorbs b4"

"wel u shud gt usd to it cuz ur bedhed's totes adorbs." His comment caused me to blush. He was somewhere nearby.

"_Why didn't I set an alarm this morning…"_

"You, transfer student! Explain the three types of tectonic boundaries!" The professor called me out.

"Ah yes, that would be divergent, when two plates move away from each other, convergent, when they move together, and transform, when two plates move in two opposite directions." I answered smoothly, this kind of thing was my specialty.

"Very good, Icelander." I couldn't decide if this teacher was going to be an enemy or a friend.

"Yea lik good jb icey." Leon texted.

"Sht up i livd on a islnd md of vlcnos 4 mst of my lif." I protested.

"wtevs. clas is ovr n 20, wna gt sm food sinc u clrly gt lst on ur wy hr."

"sur i ges." I locked my phone, putting it in my pocket as the teacher continued to ramble on about plate boundaries.

As class was dismissed I stood and stretched, scooping up my notebook and tablet and shoving them into my messenger bag while I waited for Leon to reveal himself.

"Like, hey." His voice came from my left. He seemed rather flustered as I looked into his eyes. Maybe the whole 'stoic cool guy' thing was just an act.

"Hey." I responded, starting off towards the door. Though I had no idea where we were going, Leon seemed to respond better to confident actions than uncertain ones.

"So…" He began again, walking slightly in front of me. "There's going to be a culture festival next Friday where everyone gets together and like, shows off different things from their countries. If you wanted to, we could go..?" There was a hint of worry in his voice.

"Sure, that sounds pretty cool. Are you going to dress up in a Changshan or something?" I snickered slightly. Leon scoffed, looking away from me.  
"Are you going to wear a horned helmet and furs?" A small smirk slipped onto his face as he punched my shoulder.

"The horned helmets thing is a myth! If you had horns on your helmet someone could slam their sword down on them and break your neck!" I exclaimed as we walked towards the cafeteria building. Leon only chuckled at my exasperated expression, opening the door and walking down a short hallway to the cafeteria.

It was set up quite like an American buffet, with foods from many different parts of the world grouped by regions. There were even some Icelandic dishes I recognized in the 'Nordic' area.

Leon had gone to retrieve his own meal, so I quickly picked up a few things I was familiar with and followed him over to a table at the side of the room. As an afterthought, I decided to sit next to him rather than across from him. There was quite a lot of chatter in the room and I didn't really feel like shouting.

"What'd you get?" I questioned, stirring my kyjosupa absently.

"Dim sum and ha gao dumplings." He gestured to each. "How about you?"

"Well I got some kyjosupa and a bolludagur bun." I was slightly distracted by my phone vibrating in my pocket.

"Ah what does he want now..!" I grumbled, seeing it was a text from Lukas.

'Hey Emil you haven't contacted me for several days. Does this mean you found a girl or something? I'd love to meet them at the culture festival this weekend, since it's open to the public and all.' It read. Gott…

I quickly tapped out a reply. 'No iv jst bn bsy wth clsses nd gtn setld n. U dnt hv 2 wry bout me nymore! I'm nt a kid! Nd y do u lwys type vrythng out lik tht?'

"What's that?" Leon asked, his mouth full of dumplings.

"Ah, nothing. Apparently my brother is worried about me…" I kept my phone hidden from him.

"Like, what'd he say?" Leon could clearly tell I was hiding something, leaning over slightly to try and catch a glimpse of my phone.

"He just said that he wanted me to text him." I lied, well it wasn't really a lie. Lukas _did _want me to keep in contact with him.

"So why were you like, making a big deal of it?" I wasn't going to win this.

"I wasn't making a big deal of it!" I protested. "I just don't like having to tell him what I'm doing all the time, it's annoying." Leon only shrugged, returning to his food.

"So, with this culture festival, do you have any idea what it's like?" I changed the subject.

"Well, I know that Yao's running like, one of the Chinese booths and that there'll be a lot of people from all over the surrounding cities there. I've never been to one myself; it's all stuff I've heard about from Yao and Kiku." He was somewhat vague in his answer, apparently he was as new to this as I was.

"All I know is that you have like, _got_ to try some asian food! Yao's going to have some different stuff set up, so you definitely need to test some out." He continued to ramble on as my mind drifted off.

"_I still don't know what to think about all this, he's been so nice and helpful, is he just a nice guy or is he coming onto me? I mean I'm practically a relationship virgin so it's not like I'll really be able to tell unless he says it directly. Still, what if..?" _

"Ice!" Leon snapped his fingers in front of my face, causing me to shake from my small stupor.

"Ja?" I quickly turned my attention to the other.

"You were staring at me." He stated matter-of-factly. I was starting to get the sense that he didn't have much of a filter, or, at least, he wasn't very good at being subtle.

"Oh, sorry. I was just thinking about what kind of traditional stuff I could wear for the festival.." I felt my face grow slightly hot in embarrassment.

"Hm.."

He could see right through me. I quickly looked around the room for an escape, the clock on the wall catching my attention. My next class wouldn't be starting for another half hour, but any out I could get was good enough for me.

"I uh, I think I left my literature book in my dorm so I'd better go and get it before I, uhm, before I end up being late again..-" I clumsily stood from the booth, Leon opening his mouth to say something but never uttering a sound as I stumbled away.

"_Why do I always mess everything up?"_

**fjandinn- Damn**

**Kyjosupa- Icelandic meat soup (sehr lecker)**

**Dim sum and ha gao- 2 Types of dumplings (also very good yesyes)**


	9. Chapter 8- Culture Festival

The rest of the week leading up to the culture festival was nothing but endless new assignments and early lunches with Leon. Luckily for me, we hadn't had any more awkward conversations, most of our talk consisting of high school experiences and friends we'd both left behind in our home countries.

I really only had one friend back home, Peter. He was a year behind me in school, but Lukas was friends with his parents. As for Leon, he'd lived with a foster dad in England before he moved in with Yao. The foster, a man with the last name Kirkland, spoke with a stereotypical queen's english accent, and insisted on perfect manners at all times. All Leon had managed to do, however, was set off firecrackers at ungodly hours of the night, resulting in his 'displacement' back to China.

'The only thing' he'd said, 'I ever got from my foster dad were these damn thick eyebrows.' Leon pointed to his brow, as if someone unrelated to you could give you a trait.

The day of the culture festival had arrived sooner than I thought, before I knew it I was struggling with the static in my hair caused by my Lopapeysa.

Every time I tried to fix my hair, my sleeves would again pull my pale blonde strands out of place with their evil static.

Frustrated, I was about to just give up and pick something else when there was a knock on my door.

"Come in." I muttered, going to the bathroom to try and find a remedy.

"Icey?" I recognized Leon's voice, relaxing a bit and stepping back out. He was dressed in a white duangua that clasped to the right side, white pants, and black wraps that started an inch or so below his knee. He had a miniature Hong Kong flag clasped in one hand, and from the earbud in his right ear I could faintly hear some kind of Pop music, Japanese or Korean I assumed.

"You ready to go?" He questioned me, glancing at my far less extravagant clothing. I suddenly felt very underdressed.

"Yeah, I just have to fix my hair." I raised my sleeve near my head, feeling the static pull the matted tresses back off my head.

"Oh. Well, come on let me help." He said in an even tone, pushing my shoulder and causing me to stumble backwards onto my bed. Leon reminded me of Lukas in the sense that his emotions definitely _were_ there, they were just very subtle. Luckily I was quite the expert at detecting small changes in expression. A slightly upturned lip, the raise of an eyebrow, a slight shift in tone. All minute details most others overlooked but I couldn't help but catch.

Leon's oversized silky sleeves fell down his arms as he reached up slightly to detangle my tousled hair. While we'd never really discussed height, I knew I was slightly taller than him and it would have been rather difficult for him to do if I was standing. As his thin fingers worked deftly in my hair, I found myself subconsciously leaning towards his touch.

He finished quickly, stepping back a bit to admire his work before turning me towards the bathroom to check it for myself. I glanced at it for only a second before nodding and rejoining him, snatching my phone and wallet off my desk and slipping them into my pocket.

"Shall we be off then?" He spoke in a bad british accent, mocking the mannerism his foster father had tried to drill into him as a child.

"I guess." I checked around the room to make sure I wasn't forgetting anything, though we wouldn't be that far from campus if I did.

"Oh, I totally spaced." Leon muttered suddenly, pulling a small length of material out of his pocket and quickly wrapping it around my neck.

"What's this?" I grasped the material, feeling much like a dog with a collar on.

"It's like, an Icelandic flag. Everyone's supposed to wear something with their home country or region on it and like…you didn't have anything." He said this with an overly-obvious tone.

"And you just so happened to consider me before you came~?" The smallest of smirks slipped across my face.

"Yes, you seem to be the forgetful type." He teased back, his own smirk sneaking it's way onto his lips, instantly eliminating my own.

"You coming or not?" He snickered, walking towards the door.

"Yeah, yeah I'm coming."

One short jaunt later, Leon and I were standing in the center of the festivities, several city blocks covered in booths and tents with different items and food from all over the world surrounding us.

"Come on, let's like, check out some of the booths!" Leon wasted no time in snatching my wrist through his sleeve, pulling me towards the nearest cluster of tents. The first tent was about focal points of each country. Beautiful architecture, wonders of the world, and picturesque landscapes were all showcased there.

The next section was technology and inventions from each country. Kiku was working the Japanese area, and was currently in a deep discussion about Pokemon with another student. Leon snatched up a few items from his booth, but wouldn't allow me to see them, opting to hide them in his sleeve.

"I'll show you later." He muttered mysteriously, continuing on towards a booth decked out in nordic flags. I followed him begrudgingly, I hate not knowing things..

I was yanked from my distraction quite abruptly however as a set of strong arms wrapped around my waist, lifting me off the ground as if I weighed nothing.

Letting out a yelp of surprise, I struggled against my captor, whomever it was, but stopped when a familiar voice reached my ear.

"EMIL I MISSED YOU!" Mathias shouted, releasing me and causing me to stumble into Leon, who had turned around upon hearing the Dane's shouting.

"It's been less than a month Mathias." I sighed in irritation. "Stupid dane…"


	10. Chapter 9- Lunch anda party?

"So what if it's been less than a month! My little Icey-wicey, all grown up and going to college!" Mathias grasped my cheek with his gloved hand.

"I'm not your little anything." My protest fell on deaf ears as he continued to coddle me like a child. As I tried to protest, a hand snaked up his shirt, grasping his red tie and giving it a firm pull. Mathias immediately released me at that point, his hands moving to his neck as his face turned red.

"You need to learn something about personal space…idiot." Lukas addressed Mathias, roughly releasing his tie and causing him to stumble back a step. The other's only response was a weak cough. "And you, lillebror…-" Lukas began, stopping however when he saw Leon standing next to me with a befuddled expression. "Ah…how inconsiderate, scolding you in front of your….?" the end of his sentiment trailed off curiously.

"This is my…f_riend _Leon." I blushed furiously. "And Leon, this is my….my brother Lukas, and his kaerasti Mathias." I smirked slightly to myself at Lukas' faint blush.

"It's nice to meet you." Leon quickly held his hand out to Lukas, who shook it in return despite his embarrassment. "Emil hasn't told me much of you, but you seem like a fair enough person, having put up with him for so long." My brother's small smile came at my expense, Leon would be repaying me in full later for it..  
"He _is_ quite the handful…" He muttered thoughtfully, glancing at Leon with a smirk. This was the most expressive I'd seen him in a long time. Leon blushed slightly, apparently catching a meaning I wasn't.

"Okay, awkward introductions aside; Leon, we should probably get going or we'll miss the…thing, y'know?" I started to pull him away. "What thing? Is there a drinking contest? Were you guys planning to get hammered without me?!" Mathias laughed, slinging one arm over each of our shoulders.

"No, we were like, going to go to Alfred's party tonight so we've got to be able to leave a bit sooner." I sighed in relief as Leon covered for me, shooting him a quick half-smile.

"Yeah, we wouldn't want to miss out on any of the booths before then.." I started to walk out of the tent as Mathias released us. There was a moment of silence before he replied.

"Oh, I get it! You guys are totally gonna-" He would have continued his phrase if not for Lukas' hand clapping over his mouth, sufficiently cutting his phrase in half.

"I'll catch you later Emil." Lukas waved with his other hand as we rushed off towards the musical booths. Once we were out of earshot, I let out a sigh of relief, slapping my hand against my face.

"Your brother and his friend are pretty interesting.." Leon commented, leading me towards the stage set up in the street.

"More like pretty strange…" I muttered in response, ruffling my hair slightly. Upon the stage was a single male sitting at a piano, from which a melodic string of notes knitted its way through the air towards us. I found myself subconsciously leaning towards the stage, his song drawing a crowd towards him.

"That's Roderich, from Austria. He's like, a musical prodigy." Leon's head hovered over my shoulder as he spoke, his breath tickling my cheek. As we continued to listen, he didn't move away, more for the sake of being able to hear me if I spoke.

Once the song came to an end, Roderich modestly took a bow and exited, some members of the stage crew pushing the piano behind a curtain while the next act prepared to go on. The crowd split like the sea as soon as he departed, his musical spell now dropped. As everyone filed away, a familiar feeling rose in the pit of my stomach.

"_Why do I keep skipping breakfast?"_ I thought to myself, pursing my lips in irritation at my own forgetfulness.

"Hey do you want to like, get some food?" Leon read my mind, pointing with his thumb to a semicircle of booths, each with a different flag pinned above it. Each held foods from each country, a tantalizing scene for the growing pit in my stomach indeed.

"Sure." I remained casual, glancing around at the different foods. "I was kind of interested in trying some of your country's food actually.."

"Alright." He perked up a bit. "I'll get lunch, but you have to get dessert." A small smile made its' way onto his face as he indicated to a small clutch of trees a bit away from the booths. "Meet you over there." I hadn't a moment to respond before he walked off.

As I drew closer to the trees, I could see they were cherry blossoms, their pink petals coating the surrounding grass, low-lying branches providing a curtain of privacy from the rest of the festivities. I walked a bit further forward, reaching the other side of the trees. At the other side was a small lake with a bridge stretching over its' surface. Not a soul could be seen around the water's edge, apparently this area was quite a secret.

"_This would be a great place for a romantic picn- wait what am I saying?!" _I cut my thought short, shaking my head slightly. "_Where the heck did that idea come from?_"

Scanning the area, I spotted a bench wrapping around one of the larger trees, quickly making my way over to it. There was a perfect amount of shade over the wooden surface, keeping it an excellent cool temperature. Sitting down, I leaned against the trunk of the tree and closed my eyes as a gentle breeze blew from the lake, carrying the scent of the water towards me.

"Honestly though…thinking like that. He only considers me a friend.." I muttered to myself, sighing.

"Who only considers you a friend?!" A sudden voice next to me caused me to jump up in fear, flopping onto the ground.

"Hvað í fjandanum!?" I quickly stood up, seeing a tall blonde male dressed in a cowboy outfit standing next to the spot I'd been sitting.

"Woah dude I don't speak french." He laughed, adjusting his stetson.

"Neither do I, it's Icelandic." I grumbled, taking a seat on the bench as I tried to suppress my wheezing. "Do you like sneaking up on random people like that or are you just an idiot?" My tone was probably a little cold, but he didn't have to sneak up on me like that.

"No man, I just saw you all alone and thought I'd say hi! I didn't think you'd get all freaked out like that….I'm Alfred, homeland of the 'ol USA by the way! What's your name?" He crossed one hand over his chest, holding the other out towards me.  
"I'm Emil..I moved here from Norway a week ago, but I'm originally from Iceland. I wasn't scared by the way, you just caught me off guard." I begrudgingly shook his hand. Just then, a bit of movement in the trees caught my eye. Turning, I saw Leon walking towards us, two white boxes in one hand. He had a bit of an angry expression on his face, but he wasn't looking at me. Instead his gaze was fixed on Alfred. As he approached us, Alfred smiled a bit at him, apparently not noticing his glare.

"Hey Leon! Wazzup? I'm just hangin' out with Emil here. Seems like a pretty cool guy." He swung an arm over my shoulder, squeezing me awkwardly. Leon deadpanned.

"Yes well, if you don't mind _partner_ Emil and I were like, kind of in the middle of having lunch." Leon shook the boxes lightly. "So, if you would, stop giving him a freaking panic attack that would be nice." I could almost feel the waves of irritation coming off of Leon.

"What do you mean giving him a panic attack? Everyone loves hanging out with me! That's why you're both coming to my party tonight, right? Eight o'clock! Be there or be square!" He walked off then, the stirrups on his boots clinking as he went. Once he was out of earshot, Leon visibly relaxed.

"I do _not _like him…but he throws such awesome parties…Are you alright?" He grunted, running a hand through his hair.

"I'm fine..he just startled me." I sighed, leaning against the tree and closing one eye. "So what's in the boxes?" I hoped my blush wasn't as prominent as it felt.

Leon set one box in front of me, placing a set of chopsticks on top of it.

"It's Bento, I figured since you haven't like, tried anything before, you should try a variety." He set the other box in his lap, pulling his chopsticks apart with a snap.

"Alright." I mimicked his actions and picked up the chopsticks, pulling them apart and cradling them awkwardly in one hand. Holding them up in front of my face, I attempted to manipulate my fingers around the foreign objects. After a minute or so, Leon seemed to understand I was having trouble, reaching over and smacking my hand lightly.

"Here, like.." He set his box on the bench, moving to sit behind me, repositioning my fingers with his own. "Just move this finger, not the other ones." I was rather flustered by his proximity, though he didn't seem to notice.

A few failed attempts and hand-slaps later, I was finally able to control them. The next step was using them to pick up food..

"I thought the Chinese invented forks, why the hell would they make something this complex?" I muttered, my hand wobbly as I picked up a clump of rice.

"I don't know, chopsticks were small and easy to carry around, besides girls look fabulous with them in their hair." He held his chopsticks behind his head in an 'X' shape, causing me to chuckle.

"I guess you're right..still who thought eating with sticks was a good idea?"

As I finished the last of my bento, I'd come to the conclusion that I liked Chinese food.. Except for pickled vegetables, the likes of which I wasn't fond of.

"So, do you want to like..get dessert then go back to the dorms to get ready for the party? We can check out the rest of the festival tomorrow." He muttered, his head propped up on his arms.

"Sure, I guess." I gathered up the boxes, standing and stretching before returning to the throngs of people enjoying the festival. As I continued in search of the place I was looking for, I felt a slight tug on my clothes. Leon had hooked his thumb in one of my belt loops, and was holding tightly, as if I'd leave him behind. This caused me to blush profusely, but I didn't say anything.

Finally, I spotted a booth selling sweets, quickly walking up to it and searching for the item of my desires. Keeping my selection hidden from Leon, I grabbed several different bags and quickly bought them, all the while making sure he wasn't paying attention. Luckily, he was captivated by his phone screen at the moment, blushing slightly and his mouth hanging open a tiny bit.

"_Odd._" I thought to myself, turning to face him. "You alright Leon?" He quickly locked his phone, shoving it into his pocket as he avoided my gaze.

"Y-yeah I'm fine Kiku was just reminding me that we shouldn't wear our traditional stuff to the party…Alfred's well know for getting a little out of hand with his celebrations." He scratched the back of his head. "So, what'd you get?" I could clearly tell he was trying to redirect the conversation, I let it slide, a sudden idea popping up in my head.

"I got a few different things.." I reached into the bag. "But I want you to guess what they are." A small smile curled onto my lips.

"Alright well…let's go back to the dorms then. If I have to guess that means I can't see…and I don't like standing around with my eyes closed like some kind of idiot; at least not in public."

**Transulations-**

**Lillebror- Little brother, Norwegian **

**kaerasti- Boyfriend (Not allowed to have non-English characters in this apparently..? So it's misspelled)**

**hvað í fjandanum- What the hell (common phrase with him, yah' see?)**


	11. Chapter 10- Dessert

Chapter 10—-

We decided to go to Leon's dorm, since his roommate would be working the Korean section of the festival before the party. Besides, I hadn't been able to see it yet.

Inside, it was quite what I'd expected from Leon. Two beds pressed on either side of the room, with everything separated down the center near perfectly. On one side, presumably Yong Soo's, the bed could hardly be seen, blankets and clothes skewed everywhere, and band posters and other various items pinned to the walls. However, the desk was rather organized and had all the books stacked neatly in one corner.

On Leon's side, the bed was left unmade but still visible, clothes hanging from the footboard of the bed. There was a nightstand with a power strip hanging from it, at least four different chargers plugged into various devices. The desk had papers scattered over it's surface, mostly assignments and notes, though there were some sketches and scraps of writings that peaked my interest.

"So, this is my cramped mess of a dorm." He motioned to the room nonchalantly.

"I can see why you like my dorm more, this isn't much space to work with." I took a seat on his bed, leaning against the wall. Leon chuckled lightly, sitting down next to me and resting his head on my shoulder.

"So..what was it you got?" He poked the bag lying limp on the sheets next to me.

"You have to guess!" I laughed, reaching for the tie around my neck. With a gentle tug, the bow came undone, the dark fabric unwinding. Leaning forward slightly, I wrapped the material twice around his eyes, tying it in a small knot in the back.

"How many fingers am I holding up?" I waved my hand in front of his face. Leon reached forward and grabbed my hand, feeling my fingers.

"Five." His voice was light as he released me, resting his hands in his lap. "Why do I have to be blindfolded again?"

"Because it's an Icelandic tradition that whenever you try new food you have to be blindfolded." I lied.

"Suuureee." He muttered sarcastically, poking my chest blindly. "Then why weren't you blindfolded when I gave you Bento?" '_Busted.'  
_"Because, who could pick up food with sticks blindfolded? Seriously, chopsticks are impossible!" I waved my hands around spastically, though he couldn't see me.

"Fine, fine. Hurry up, show me what you got." He waved one hand, brushing against my arm in the process. I obliged, picking the first item I'd selected.

"Okay, item number one." I held out a piece of belgian chocolate. Leon, instead of attempting to pick it up like I'd planned, simply opened his mouth.

"I'm blind, don't expect me to be able to find what you're holding." He again read my thoughts, snapping his fingers.

"Alright, alright princess." I teased him, feeding him the chocolate and licking the access off my fingers. There was a moment of quiet before he responded.

"Mmm…definitely chocolate..uhm from Belgium?" He questioned, looking in my general direction. My jaw dropped.

"How…? Wow you're good at guessing." My comment was muffled by the crinkling of the bag as I searched for the second item. "Okay, two more things to try." I pulled out a package of butter cookies. "Lukas used to make these all the time when I was little." I laughed slightly at the memories of my brother prior to me becoming such a dramatic teenager.

"So, you and your brother used to be like, pretty close, eh?" Leon asked, his mouth full of cookies. He'd fallen in love as soon as he tasted them, nearly ripping the blindfold off.

"Yeah, we still are pretty close, he just gets on my nerves a lot easier than he used to..he keeps insisting I call him 'Big Brother', even though we're only a few years apart." I huffed.

"I get it, Yao isn't all that fatherly or anything, but he sorta raised me, y'know? He gets clingy and defensive sometimes, and tries to disapprove of stuff I do from time to time. He really doesn't have much jurisdiction though, seeing as we're both adults…well legally speaking. I still can't like, drink. That's not stopping me though." Leon rambled on a bit, laying down on the pillows at the top of his bed. "So, what's the third thing, or were you just keeping this blindfold on me for fun?" He smirked sparingly, sitting up.

"Oh yeah. This last one is a bit of an acquired taste, but it's one of my favorite things." I grabbed one of the multiple packages of black licorice I'd bought, quickly pulling it open and reaching in to snatch up a handful of little black wheels.

"It can't be worse than snake ice cream." He accepted the piece I offered him, his nose wrinkling.

"Aw sick that's actually real?" I cringed, popping a few pieces of licorice into my mouth. He nodded in response, a look of utter disgust on his face. After a moment of forced swallowing, he opened his mouth and stuck out his slightly black stained tongue. "So?" I questioned.

"It's not as bad as I expected, but that wasn't very pleasant." He pulled the blindfold off, grabbing another butter cookie and shoving it in his mouth. "I mean, Kiku's made me taste some pretty weird stuff..it's definitely not the worst thing I've ever tasted." He scowled a bit, "But it's not the best, either." I laughed lightly at his expression.

"Eh, at least you didn't spit it out like Mathias." Another handful of black candy made it's way to my mouth.

"Well, with that bit over, shall we get ready for the party?" Leon reached the clothes on his footboard, pulling up several different outfits. I gulped. '_This aught to be interesting.."_


	12. Chapter 11- American House Party

Chapter 11~

"We're going to be late if you don't pick something soon!" I complained, sitting on the edge of Leon's bed, an irritable expression painted across my face.

"Alright, alright, just give me one more minute.." He continued to dig through the disaster of a closet adjacent to his bed. I'd discovered how he was able to keep his portion of the room relatively neat when he opened up that hellhole. For the past hour, Leon had been trying to find one specific piece of clothing, not taking anything less than exactly what he had in mind.

"_Like you care..you get to see him shirtless~" _A part of my subconscious goaded me. "Aha! Like, finally!" He held the desired shirt over his head triumphantly.

Glancing at the shirt, I wondered what all the fuss was about. From my point of view, it was simply a black shirt, nothing more.

"You really spent _all _that time looking for a black shirt?" I sighed, falling back onto the bed with a sigh.

"It's totally not just a black shirt!" He practically pounced at me, leaning over my form slightly, his fist gripping the shirt's fabric in a deathgrip. "It's the best shirt ever." His voice went deathly calm, his eyes dilating in what could've been considered a frightening manner. Just as he lifted the article over his head to put it on, there was a slam, then the door was thrown open. Yong Soo entered at that moment, pulling along someone I couldn't identify.

"Whoooaaahhhhh sorry am I interrupting something Hong?" He quickly covered the other boy's eyes with his hand, laughing wholly. Leon huffed, sitting up and pulling his shirt the rest of the way over his head.

"Actually, I was putting clothes _on _not taking them _off." _There was a tinge of a sort of british accent to his voice. The Korean boy held up his hands in defense.

"Whatever you say da-ze" He was smiling broadly. "But you have to admit.." He gestured to us.

"Not everything in life is about _that_ y'know." Leon's tan skin was painted with a small blush as he sat up, adjusting his shirt and reaching behind himself for his phone. I was frankly more than a bit embarrassed at that point, well, we both were. "_What kind of friends did I invest in." _My thoughts were pushed to the side however, as Leon grabbed me by wrist, pulling me towards the door.

"We'll be at Alfred's party, like, bye Matt!" He called, pushing me into the hall and slamming the door. In the hallway, Leon grunted in irritation before striding off towards the elevator, my arm tugged along with a surprising amount of force for such a small person. Only once we were in the elevator headed for the first floor did Leon calm down, releasing my arm and muttering something under his breath I couldn't understand.

"So…you never told me what's so special about that shirt." I pointed to the seemingly mundane article.

"Oh yeah, it's like..-" He reached into his collar before removing it again. "Here..clap." He stretched his arms to the side slightly.

Skeptically, I clapped my hands together. When I did, several small lights flickered across the fabric, creating an image of fireworks for a mere second. Leon quickly shut the shirt back off then.

"That's cool." I muttered, noticing the tiny LED lights for the first time.

"I know right? It's like, the coolest shirt ever." There was a hint of pride in his monotonous voice as he tapped one of the tiny lights, stepping out of the elevator to the main hall.

"Yeah, yeah. Let's just get to the party." I smiled lightly at his somewhat immature obsession with the article.

"Lets..~"

"Alright…1492 Freedom Drive, this' the place." Leon slipped his phone back into his pocket as we stood outside the large house. How a college student was able to afford such a titan of a home was beyond me. From the multiple opened windows music could be heard, dubstep I believe.

"Alright, let's roll…wait that's lame, never mind." I facepalmed, stepping ahead of Leon towards the raging party.

Leon lifted his hand to knock on the door, but before his fist even connected with the wooden surface, the door was swung open. Holding the door open, a tall boy with short blonde hair and glowing neon glasses, Alfred, grasped Leon's shirt, swinging him inside.

"Rice Rice baby! So glad you made it! You too, Ice Ice baby!" He laughed hysterically to himself, apparently he'd been saving that line since we'd met that afternoon. Leon growled in irritation, but kept a happy demeanor.

"The party looks awesome Al, thanks for inviting us." He clapped the other on the shoulder. Alfred loosened his grip on my shoulder, shoving the two of us towards the interior of the home.

"No problem! The bar's straight ahead, cans' to the left, and everybody's getting ready for a drinking competition in the living room. The only rule is no sex in my bedroom, other than that, go crazy!" I blushed at his implication, but followed Leon to the bar, where he promptly sat down.

"Hola Leon!" The 'bartender' of sorts, a cheerful looking Spaniard greeted him, stepping away from his conversation with Lovino. Lovino appeared to have had a few drinks, a blush covering his face and the curl of hair sticking up on his head kinked strangely.

"Hey Antonio. Mind setting us up with something to drink?" Leon laid his head on my shoulder, coaxing the other.

"Sure amigo!" He snatched up a few bottles, mixing two drinks in a flash. Setting the drinks in front of us, he flashed me a quick smile before stepping to the other side of the bar to continue his seemingly one-sided conversation.

"So this' your hookup for drinks eh?" I laughed slightly, stirring my own beverage with my index finger. Leon downed most of his drink immediately, nodding.

"His parties have a ridiculously large amount of alcohol." He snatched another glass, downing it as well. I glanced at my drink before tilting my head back, automatically feeling a thick burning sensation in my throat.

Swallowing, I released a thick cough, a disgusted expression coating my face. Leon glanced at me, the realization hitting him.

"You're like, a drinking virgin!" He shouted over the blasting music, causing a few people near us to look up.

"Shut up…" I growled, a sort of determination filling me. Another glass was downed without a thought, the burning sensation lesser than the first time. A moment passed like this before an idea seemed to strike in Leon's eyes.

"Hey Ice, want to like, have a drinking contest?" He pulled several bottles and glasses towards me. I smirked, a challenge sounded great at the moment.

"What's the stakes?" I asked, licking my lips to remove the bitter taste lingering there. Leon pondered my question for a moment before shrugging.

"Winner decides?" He raised a question at the end of his sentence, filling several glasses. I shrugged as well, it worked for me. "We need a judge." He looked around, whistling for Antonio who was chatting away with a now sleeping Lovino.

"Si amigo?" He bounced over to us.

"Tony, me and Ice want to have a drinking contest, so could you like, be super cool and be the judge for us?" It amazed me how Leon could be so manipulative and at the same time so monotonous.

"Sure! As long as you're done before the big contest starts!" His elbows met the polished wood of the bar with a soft thud. First one to finish five drinks, or the last man drinking wins! He doled out ten beers in a flash. "Ready…set…beber!" He dramatically swung one arm between us, indicating the start.

After the first two glasses, I was starting to doubt why I'd agreed to the competition, but by my fourth I felt no ill effects other than being a bit nauseous. Leon however, seemed to have completely lost it, entertaining himself by giggling and flicking around a stray scrap of paper he'd found. Four of his drinks were drained, the fifth abandoned half empty a few inches away from his flushed face laying on the counter.

"_Why would he suggest a drinking contest if he's so easily intoxicated?" _The thought played over and over again in my mind as I swished the contents of my last drink around in its glass.

"OKAY EVERYONE WHO WANTS TO PLAY SOME GAMES! NOT SISSY GAMES BUT LIKE SUPER HARDCORE COLLEGE GAMES?!" Alfred shouted over the booming music and low hum of conversation. A sudden prick of dread filled my mind as to what the eccentric, loud, and possibly drunk boy had in mind.

"I think we should sit out for this particular game.." I muttered, glancing around the crowded space. After a moment of surveying I spotted a few couches leaning against the far wall, hardly a step away from the throngs of people dancing in the center of the room."C'mon Leon…let's get you somewhere more comfortable before you pass out." I nudged the shorter boy's side, causing him to look up at me through half-lidded eyes.

"M'kay." He draped one arm over my shoulder, but made no other move to get up. Sighing, I pulled him from the barstool, nearly knocking it over, and lead him towards our destination. It was a bit of a struggle to maneuver him through the ocean of dancing bodies, but it was even more of a struggle once we sat down.

The moment I pulled Leon's arms off of my shoulders they were back, his warm fingers intertwining around my neck and his fingers grazing my skin, causing a shiver to wriggle up my spine.

"L-leon?" I tried to gain his attention, a hot blush rising on my face. I wasn't sure if it was from the drinks or the proximity, but I was on fire. Slowly, Leon peeled his eyes off of his fingers fumbling with my shirt collar and glued them to my eyes.

"You're kind of close.." I tried to remove his hands, but his hold was fierce, he wouldn't give up that easily.

"You have purple eyes.." He giggled, pulling himself up into my lap. "They're like, really pretty." His voice was drowned in a thick british accent as he continued to stare through me, not really trying to do anything else, just staring.

"Thank you but I need you to-" I was interrupted by a sudden exclamation.

"Come on guys! You totally need to get in on this game, da-ze!" Yong Soo appeared in front of me, hoisting both me and Leon up off the couch with a sudden burst of strength.

"W-what is this even?" I questioned, already being dragged across the room by the loud Korean.

"It's sort of like seven minutes in heaven, but you stay in there until Alfred or I decide to let you out, da-ze!" I started to panic at his description, but Leon seemed more than happy to be part of this strange game. He was giggling to himself, his arms still wound tightly around my neck, his head resting in the crook of my neck.

"Have fun lovebirds!" Alfred snatched me by the arm as soon as we reached the closet, tossing both of us inside and slamming the door shut. "This is definitely _not _good…."

Translations-

Beber- Drink (Spanish)

Muahaha sorry I forget to post chapters here! ;A; You can find all the chapters much faster on my Deviantart- .com !


	13. Chapter 12- Wet

**Chapter 12**

"Hey! Fjanndin, what is with the weird American games?!" I shouted, trying to stand up but felling something inhibiting me. In the darkness I felt Leon's warm arms wrap around my waist, his face pressed against the side of my stomach.

"Leon?" I strained to see him in the darkness, coaxing him to release me. However, the other boy simply continued to hold onto me with a crushing grip, straddling me somewhat.

"Leon would you let go of me?" Again I tried to convince him to relinquish his hold on me, starting to get annoyed by his, though cute, rather suffocating clinginess. He muttered something into the fabric of my shirt, loosening his grip a small amount. "I can't hear you with your face in my shirt y'know." Finally, the brown haired boy lifted his head enough to look up at me through his bangs.

"R-remember when I told you what I wa-as afraid of?" I could hardly see him, but even so I could tell there was fear brimming in his eyes as the realization hit me. Leon was afraid of the dark.

"Oh." Was all I could manage to say as I pulled him against me, hoping to comfort him in some way, however small. His left arms moved to cover his eyes then, just as an idea struck me.

Reaching for Leon through the darkness, I gently tugged his arm away from his face, causing him to look up at me with wide eyes.

"This make you feel any better or am I just making a fool of myself?" I asked, moving slightly to lean against the wall. Leon nodded slightly.

"Y'know what we're supposed to do in here, right~?" His eyes were fixed on his lap. In fact, I didn't really know why we were locked in a closet together.

"Not really, no." He shifted slightly, looking up at me. Then his lips parted slightly, as if to speak, but no sound came. He began to lean forward, his eyes glazed over, and before I could fully react his lips were upon mine, causing me to make a small noise of surprise, though I didn't resist. The kiss only lasted a second before the door was jerked open, causing him to stop abruptly and shield his eyes as light poured into the room.

"Woah guys get some! Should I leave you two alone?"

"Dang Leon I knew you were obsessed with him but dang, da-ze!" Alfred and Yong Soo spoke at the same time, their voices mixing together and making their individual speechs' nearly indistinguishable.

Quickly standing, Leon blushed deeply, but seemed rather relieved to be out of the darkness. Not a word left his lips as he rushed out of the closet and into the throngs of people, abandoning me to deal with the unruly boys in front of me. I stood on my own at that point, quickly pushing past the laughing duo and into the crowd after him, my own thoughts racing.

"_But do I really like this guy? I've only known him for a freaking week and here I go throwing myself into something like this. It's not some story, it doesn't just happen like this. Maybe it's all lost in translation…" _My mind tried to work through every scenario as I wandered through Alfred's titan of a house.

"_But what if I don't act now and he thinks I rejected him? It could ruin any chance of a relationship I have with him…and damn Emil you have to admit that boy is freaking handsome as hell. Not the suavest person you've ever met but you've seen him shirtless and it's nothing to complain about." _

All around I could faintly hear snippets of muttered conversation from the partygoers in the surrounding area as I continued my search. The nonsensical rambling was spiked with more-than-occasional mentions of Leon's and my own name. Somewhat risqué; all their topics seemed to be. However, I was too busy trying to find Leon to care. After a long while of searching, I reached a set of sliding glass doors, stepping out of the thick chocking air of the party into the cool spring breeze the night provided.

Not a soul appeared to be outside, all the other partygoers seeming to enjoy the deafening music and steady flow of drinks over the rather serene and dim enviornment of Alfred's backyard. As I silently grazed my eyes over the area, I was surprised to hear a sudden noise to my left.

Glancing towards the sound, I spotted a figure sprawled across a hammock at the edge of the porch. Short choppy hair moved gently in the breeze, and I suddenly realized it was Leon laying there. One arm was slung over his eyes, the other clutching the ropes of the hammock firmly. A small sob left his lips as he lay there, seeming to have tuned everything else out completely.

"L-leon?" I whispered, not wanting to startle him or make him fall. The other slowly lifted his arm, wiping furiously at his eyes and looking away from me. His eyes appeared slightly red and puffy, as if he had been crying. But…why?

"Are you alright, I mean, you kind of ran off a moment ago…?" I pressed, moving to sit on the railing next to him. He took a deep breath, chuckling softly before responding.

"I uh…thought you w-were mad that I…" His sentence trailed off.

"That you what?" I knew what he meant but I needed a confirmation.

"That I, y'know, kissed you and stuff. You didn't seem particularly happy so.."

"Well you surprised me! I mean…how do you react to something you've never even experienced before?!" I waved my hands in an exasperated manner.

"W-wait Icey, like, that was your first kiss?" The boy who, moments ago was crying, suddenly sat up fully on the hammock, leaning close to me. He smiled coyly as I nodded. I had to be the only college student who'd never so much as kissed someone before. His face fell at my response, however.

"S-so, I stole your first? Oh like, this is the worst thing ever now I know you hate me I stole your first kiss and ran off like a total idiot we hardly even know each other and-" I cut his rambling short by quickly pressing my lips to his own, cupping his cheek in my hand. The first thing I noticed was the bitter taste of alcohol on his mouth as I tried to replicate what I'd seen but never done properly before. Leon was shocked for a moment, but soon returned the kiss, one hand holding onto my neck clumsily, the other gripping the railing for support.

When we finally broke apart, the need for oxygen too strong, Leon's eyes were like saucers, his mouth hanging open slightly. I looked away then, blushing fiercely as I fiddled absently with my shirtsleeve. Maybe I'd done something wrong.. There was a moment of quiet before Leon started giggling again. Lifting my eyes to glance at him, I could see an elated expression dancing on his face, his eyes closed as it died down to snickers.

"What, exactly, is so humorous?" I crossed my arms over my chest, glaring at him halfheartedly.

"I-it's just that you looked like, totally cute and…does this mean you like me or are you pitying the drunk?" A bit of a slur returned to his speech, one arm leaning back against the mesh of the hammock to help hold his weight.

"No…." I sighed. "Ask me again when you're sober." I turned away from him. _"Why did I take this drunken mess seriously? One minute he's afraid of the dark, then he's hiding away, then he's freaking laughing…I can't take anything too fast just yet…"_

_"_There you guys are! I thought you broke the only rule and I was gonna have to throw you guys out!" Alfred suddenly called from behind me, causing me to jump slightly.

"The only rule..?" Leon giggled, leaning dangerously far to the side of the hammock.

"Leon wait-" I couldn't finish my sentence before the braided hammock spun like a top, sending the brown haired boy falling off the side of the porch. There was a splash and as I looked down, I noticed there was a small in-ground pool below. Lucky for him or he would have hit the ground from at least three yards up. He sprung out of the water sputtering and shocked then, his hands clutching the concrete on the edge of the water. A few words in Chinese left his mouth, clearly not registering with me.

Jumping off the porch to help him, I couldn't contain my laughter, reaching forward and pulling him out of the chilly waters. He clung to my shoulder, efficiently drenching me as the air turned from pleasant to bitter in an instant.

"Ah Shénme shì dìyù!" He complained, reaching to move his bangs from his eyes and sufficiently flicking water in my face. I sputtered slightly, swatting his hand away.

"Are you alright dude?" Alfred finally caught up with us, tossing a towel at Leon.

"Yeah…I'm f-fine it's just cold out here." He let go of me long enough to wrap the towel around himself before snatching me back up, pressing my back against his chest in a somewhat defensive manner.

"Alright…I think that's enough partying for you, at least for one night. Let's head back to the dorms, and maybe next time you won't fall into a pool." I was rather glad to be leaving the party at that point. I needed some time to take all this in, and make sure he wasn't _too _drunk. The only thing that worried me was the idea of having to explain what happened to him the next morning.

Translations

Fjanndin- Damn

Shénme shì dìyù- What the hell


	14. Chapter 13- Ice Skating?

"WHAT DOES THE FOX SAY?!"

"Gah what?!" I jolted awake, my brother's ringtone blaring through the silence in my room. Snagging the phone off my nightstand, I slid my thumb over the blindingly bright screen, pressing the device to my ear.

"Hello?" I muttered, already falling back asleep.

"Yes, Emil, I was just calling to ask why perhaps I heard of….oh I don't know…you dragging some boy home?! Literally dragging?! Are you doing things I wouldn't approve of?" His tone was as expressive as I'd ever heard it, and I could faintly hear Denmark yelling in the background. As I opened my mouth there was a crash on the other end of the line.

"Emil! Did you finally get some?! I bet Lukas would calm down if you said you guys used protection." I facepalmed.

"No…Mathias don't get too excited. I carried him home, as in, he was freaking wasted and I carried him." I tried to remember what had happened once we left the party, he fell asleep halfway back and I had to carry him. Luckily, for a guy he's pretty dainty and it wasn't too difficult to carry him home. However, my arms were rather sore by the time I got back to the dorms.

"Ugh…my head…" There was a small grumble behind me. Spinning around, the rest of the memory suddenly came back. I was too exhausted to take him back to his room so he just stayed with me. This wouldn't sound too good.

"Uh..Lukas I'll call you back later, I've got to…go to class."

"On a Sunday~?"

"It's a religion class okay!?" I pushed the red icon on my screen, ending the call as Leon rolled over to face me. He had pulled the blanket up around himself, covering everything but his eyes and nose. His eyes were shut tightly, a small mumble leaving his lips.

"Ugh…Tony set me up with some strong alcohol…that or I just can't hold my drinks.." He moaned, flopping over dramatically. Letting out a small sigh, I reached one hand to his forehead, rubbing small circles across the spots I knew he would be hurting. Having seen Mathias and even Lukas hung over before, I knew a thing or two about the aftereffects of alcohol. Leon's eyes didn't open, but I could tell he was slightly surprised. After a moment he leaned towards me though, clearly happy with the attention he was receiving.

"So why would you challenge me to a drinking contest if you knew you would get drunk that easily?" I called the thought to question, glancing down at him.

"Like I said…I totally held my liquor awesomely last time." His grumbles were muffled by the comforter wrapped around his head. I chuckled lightly as I stood to stretch, my clothes crinkled oddly from how they'd dried.

"Now I've, ugh, got a question for you. Why am I in your bed, and why is my hair wet?" He sat up, leaning against the wall and stretching as well. Once my back popped, I turned back to answer him.

"Well, you were drunk off your ass during that party. You ended up falling into a pool and…some other stuff." I looked away. "So I had to carry you home and frankly didn't feel like frisking you to find your keys."

"What do you mean by 'other stuff'? Did I get into like, a rap battle?" Leon's eyebrows raised.

"Wha-no, it's just…you kind of…" I knew I was right to have my doubts. He didn't even remember a thing..

"Kind of…..?"

"Kind of kissed me..then I kind of kissed you.." I blushed, seeing his expression remain rather neutral. What, are you not even going to react?" My voice grew slightly irritated. Was he rejecting me?

"I already knew…I just wanted to hear you say it~" He smirked at me. Yep, Leon's back. An exaggerated sigh left my lips as he began to laugh, quickly stopping in favor of clutching his head.

"Y'know, you're really good at massages..ugh my head hurts like hell." His voice was manipulative to say the least.

"Alright. But remember, we're doing what I want to do today, since technically you lost the drinking contest, and I had to carry you home." I sat down again, gently pulling his head into my lap.

"I hoped you'd forgotten about that…."

"Do you even like, know where we're going?" Leon protested as I lead him through a nearby park. "And why do you have ice skates? All the snow is melted."

"Yes, I know how to use google maps. Have a little faith." I chuckled slightly, pulling him along by his wrist towards my desired location. Once I recalled the favor he owed me, I asked for twenty dollars and two hours of his time. Leon was quite relieved this was all I asked then, but soon started to regret it once I piled on a jacket, hat, and scarf, dragging him off campus.

"Alright, we're almost there." At the end of the winding cobblestone path was an ice rink.

"Wait, what are we doing here?" He questioned, a somewhat worried look on his face.

"Since we did something you like to do last night, it's only fair that we do something I like to do today." As soon as the sentence left my lips I realized how double-sided it must've sounded, based on the expression he made.

"Not like that." My retort made him chuckle slightly as he pushed the door open, holding it for me. As I stepped into the stadium holding the ice rink, I felt a shiver trail up my spine as the cool air shocked my skin. It reminded me of winter back home in Iceland. Luckily for me, there were only two other people on the rink, so I assumed it would be fine.

"Ugh it's so cold!" Leon grabbed onto my waist, pulling me against him and hiding his face in my neck. Sighing, I took off my scarf and wrapped it around his neck, glad I'd brought an overabundance of warm clothes.

"C'mon let's go get your skates." I pointed to a small kiosk nearby, my feet itching to get onto the ice. Leon sighed and nodded, following me.

Once I got my own skates on and helped Leon with his, we stepped onto the edge of the ice, Leon clutching onto my arm forcefully.

"Do you know how to skate?" I questioned, seeing his nervousness. Leon's gaze shifted. "Here, I'll show you. It's easy!" I moved so that I was facing him, gently grabbing his hands and starting to skate backwards. Leon let out a noise, his grip tightening. We continued like this for a moment, slowly moving around the edge of the rink, the only conversation between us being me telling him how to move his feet or what to watch out for. Soon enough Leon released one of my hands, beginning to skate on his own.

"Like I said, it's easy." I exclaimed, releasing him and beginning to skate faster. "Watch this." Mindful of the couple sharing the rink, I began to skate, speeding up and jumping, performing a few simple twists and tricks. Leon watched in awe, his mouth slightly agape. I'd also gained the attention of the couple, who both clapped as I finished, causing me to blush in embarrassment. Slowing then, I moved to join Leon at the side of the rink.

"That was like, really cool." He muttered, reaching to grab my hand again. Our fingers wove themselves together on their own, spreading his warmth up my arm as we skated somewhat faster.

"Thanks, I used to skate a lot when I was younger, but I'm a bit rusty." Memories came back of my own childhood endeavors of skating.

"I bet I could-woah!" Leon begain to speak, only to suddenly trip over a crack in the ice, falling to the ground and pulling me along with him. Lucky for me I had fallen many times before and knew to lift my head before I hit the ground, avoiding the pain of the packed ice on my skull. Leon landed on top of me, his head thumping against my chest somewhat harshly.

"You alright?" I looked down at him as he lifted his head.

"Yeah, luckily you're not particularly muscular." He jabbed my abdomen with his finger.

"S-shut up I carried you for like, six blocks!" I sat up, pulling him along with me.

"I probably only weigh like, one hundred pounds soaking wet." I let out an exasperated sigh at his teasing tone, pulling him up off the ice. Glancing at the clock, I realized out rink time was up, and started to lead him towards the exit.

"You sure? You _do _tend to eat quite a lot." I joked, poking his stomach with one finger as I stepped off the rink. Leon frowned comically before stepping off as well, quickly removing his skates. I took time untying the clean white laces of my own skates, watching him out of the corner of my eye.

"So Ice, you want to like, go do something else?" For the first time since we'd met, Leon seemed the slightest bit sheepish.

"Yeah, sure, as long as it doesn't involve underaged drinking." I chuckled, hanging my skates over my shoulder and reaching to pull him up onto his feet.

"I won't make any guarantees."


	15. Chapter 14- Us, an item?

After we left the rink, it was only a matter of time before Leon was back to his old self, grabbing onto me and pulling me off towards some unknown destination. Twenty minutes of walking later, we arrived outside of a small coffee shop, it looked like a place you'd stereotypically find hipsters or students cramming for their finals.

"This is..like..my favorite coffee shop. Not a lot of people go here so it's really secluded and nice, plus it's one of the only places with decent tea in the city." Leon muttered as he rushed to the counter. He placed an order for his drink, moving aside so that I could place my own.

As he paid I took a seat at a booth in the corner, my eyes scanning the shop fully. There were still only a few people nearby, it seemed Leon knew the best places to get someone alone. "Here." He spoke softly, not wanting to disturb the general peace of the place as he set my drink on the table.

"Thanks." I wrapped my hands around the cup, enjoying the warmth it gave off. I'd ordered hot chocolate…I never really _was _a coffee kind of guy. Just as I was about to take a sip Leon nudged me, indicating he wanted me to scoot over. I slid into the corner of the booth, a curious look on my face. Seeing it, Leon glanced over at me.

"I'm like…cold from the ice rink." He leaned against my shoulder, his head resting against mine. A flustered laugh escaped my lips as we sat, each of us sipping our drinks quietly. After another moment however, the silence grew overbearing, a thought heavy in my mind.

"Leon…I have a serious question which needs a serious answer." My eyes grew steely with resolve.

"Okay…shoot." He pointed his finger at me. I took a deep breath, hoping I wouldn't end up crashing and burning.

"Do you like me or are you just playing me for an idiot?" My bluntness left him a touch stunned, however he recovered quickly.

"I..of course I like you Ice. You like, think I just kiss every random stranger I come along?" I opened my mouth to speak just as his lips met mine; it was brief, over before I could even react, but he'd kissed me. Sober and of his own free will, he did it. I stared at him for a few seconds, or maybe a few hours, I couldn't tell. Leon was watching me as well, seemingly confused but not upset in the slightest.

"I uh..alright good." I coughed into my hand awkwardly. Leon let out a small snicker.

"You have no idea what to do, do you?"

"Nope…you've got me there." I shrugged. "In case you haven't noticed, I'm new to this." My hand waved between us. Leon reached out and grabbed it, setting it back in my lap.

"Well…there is something we could do to..k'now make it official." He smirked a bit.

"What'd that be?" I could feel nervous sweat collecting on my brow. Was he implying what I thought he was? Sipping my drink, my eyes were glued to the surface of the table as Leon stuffed his hand in his pocket. After a moment of shuffling, he set his cellphone on the table.

"We should take a selfie!" My expression suddenly went from nervousness to irritation as he lifted the device between us, his other hand forming a peace sign. I glared at him while he took the picture, stubbornly refusing to look at the camera. While he thumbed through filters, I sighed in annoyance, leaning against him.

"How does this sound? 'Hot coffee with a cool bae.'" Leon turned to look at me.

"How about no. Neither of us are even drinking coffee. It's tea and hot chocolate, and you aren't allowed to ever say that word again." I indicated with my thumb to the beverages that were getting cold on the tabletop. Leon grumbled something before deleting his caption, tapping his thumbs on the bottom of his phone.

"I have to like,come up with something witty to put on here before I post it." His index finger pressed against his chin in thought.

"Are you really going to stay here until you think of a caption?" My voice lowered a bit as I leaned back against the wall.

"Yep."

"Well…that's too bad. I thought we could maybe do something else later on~.." I leaned my head to one side, my eyes trailing away to look out the window. Flirting wasn't exactly something I was very knowledgable about, but I was at least _attempting_. Leon stared at me for a moment before he burst out laughing, one hand moving to cover his mouth as the attention of everyone in the cafe was turned to us. Blushing, I pulled my legs up onto the seat of the booth, shoving him off onto the floor with one foot.

Leon sat laughing on the floor for another moment before he finally stood, regaining his composure and sitting back in the booth.

"You….need to practice flirting." He muttered, leaning over and resting his head against my shoulder as he wiped a single tear from his eye. I elbowed him in the ribs, annoyed.

"I told you already I'm damn new to this." My forehead rested on the cool tabletop, my eyes closing. I knew I would regret this decision, but I had no idea it would be this quick.

"Okay, okay I'm sorry. It's just fun to wind you up." Leon snickered a bit before silence fell between us once more. I opened my mouth to speak when suddenly he spoke over me. "What about this one; Hangovers and Hot chocolate"

The sound of a hand making contact with a forehead rang through the building.

"I'll take that as a maybe?"


	16. Chapter 15- Storm

"And it looks like a storm is blowing up from the south, grab your umbrellas everyone because this looks like a big one!" The radio sitting on the edge of my desk rambled away as I tried to focus on my schoolwork. My fingers blindly reached for the ancient device, flicking it off to help me focus.

In the weeks since the party, I'd been given enough assignments to drown a guy, this school seemed to like doing that sort of thing. I was slaving away at my literature essay when my phone suddenly buzzed, causing me to jump a bit.

Glancing down, I saw it was none other than Leon calling me. We hadn't talked much in the past weeks, with schoolwork and jobs, we'd been able to steal a little time at lunch, but other than that it was as if we never saw each other.

"What do you want Leon?" I was in no kind of mood to deal with some crazy stunt, but at the same time I was desperate to talk to him.

"Yo Icey thats like, kinda rude don't you think? Anyways, I'm about to go to the beach. Y' want to come?" I let out a snort. The skies were practically black with storm clouds, the wind howling against my window.

"Are you insane?" There wasn't but a beat of silence before he responded.

"A little." Typical of him to be so reckless.

"Well it's going to start pouring any minute, you're going to catch a cold or something." I hated to sound so motherly, but it couldn't be helped at this point.

"I'll be fine. You should come though, I'll be so lonely without you!" I could hear the whine in his voice. "_If I don't go he might do something stupid…" _My mind seemed to be throwing reasons to go at me.

"I-I don't know Leon I have this essay to finish and that project for Mr. Stevens and..-"

"Oh come _on _Icey live a little! It's friday, we can go down today, like, stay down there Saturday, then come back on Sunday, no problem! And besides, if you go, I'll help you with your pro-ject~!" He responded in a singsong voice. I groaned at his interruption, standing to pack a quick bag.

"I can't believe I'm agreeing to this but…fine, I'll go." I huffed. "But I'm not going to be responsible if you do something insane." I could hear Leon cheer on the other side of the line.

"Okay great because-" There was a knock at my door, "I'm here."

"This is going to be so fun!" Leon grabbed my bag and stuffed it into the trunk of his jeep. I opened my mouth to speak just as a large group of people converged around us.

"Hey Emil!" Feliciano emerged from the group, pulling me into a crushing hug.

"H-hi Fel- I c-can't breathe!" My voice was hoarse from the pressure he was putting on my diaphragm. Ludwig reached out and grabbed him, pulling him off of me with a muttered apology.

My eyes locked with Leon's, a bit of anger evident in my stare. He'd be alone for sure, with a giant hoard of people.

"So Leon, who's your friend there-?" A somewhat tall girl with long brown hair pointed at me, her eyes scanning my body from top to bottom. Leon's arm hooked around my shoulder, pulling me against him.

"This is my _boyfriend _Ice- I mean Emil, from Iceland and no you like, can't watch us have sex." He spoke matter-of-factly as my face bloomed a thousand shades of red, one hand moving to cover my blush, the other punching his shoulder.

"Gott you're an embarrassment." I muttered, a few people in the group snickering at us as Leon rubbed his arm.

"Okay then…shall we be off? We've got a three hour drive ahead of us to get to Michelle's beach house that she so kindly let us stay in." Mei spoke up, separating everyone amongst their designated automobiles and simultaneously gesturing to a caramel skinned girl with long brown hair tied back with two ribbons.

"Oh and Leon, would you mind taking some of the stuff in your car since it's just you two?" She pointed to a pile of coolers and other such beach necessities sitting on the pavement nearby. Honestly, all of these people were insane! The sky looked as if it were about to break into a million pieces on the spot!

"Yeah no problem." He grabbed a few things, some of the others helping him fill the backseat. Once everything was placed, the two of us jumped up, following the line of cars off of the campus. It was exciting to be doing something like this out of the the blue, but also very odd, I couldn't quiet describe it.

"Leon, I need to tell you something." I looked over to him with serious eyes.

"Y'know Ice? I'm really glad you came. I know we're a thing and all that, but I just, don't get to see enough of you." My expression shifted a bit at his words.

"And like, I know it sounds tacky and everything, but I am so like, happy to be going out with you." My mouth snapped shut and I turned to look out the window, watching the clouds.

"S-so am I.." My voice was small when a thought surfaced in my mind. "But what the hell was the whole 'you can't watch us have sex' thing about?! Are you _trying _to embarrass me?" Leon began to laugh, a smile spreading across his features and making it rather difficult for me to stay angry. I began to laugh as well. Once Leon regained control, he glanced at me out of the corner of his eye.

"That's because Eliza was totally like, checking you out, so I had to get any ideas out of her mind." There was a touch of possessiveness in his tone that caused my face to heat up a bit.

"Wait, she was checking me out?" I cocked my head to the side. I'd thought she was only looking at me, same as anyone else would.

"Hell yeah she was, not that it matters because you've got me, right?" He smirked, but I could hear the insecurity under the surface of his voice. Reaching across the seat, I patted his hand as if he were a pouting child.

"Stop being jealous." My blunt statement caught him a touch off guard, his eyes focusing on the road.

"I'm not….I didn't…." There was only a moments' hesitation before he pressed a button on the console, starting his radio and proficiently tuning me out. "I'm not jealous.."


	17. Chapter 16- Weekend Escape

"Welcome everyone, to your weekend escape~!" Michelle cheered, extending her arms in either direction as the group stepped into the somewhat extravagant home. Michelle's father, Francis Bonnefoy was a rich and illustrious fashion designer, so it was no surprise that the design choices of the seasonal home were nothing but the best. A large living room greeted us first, picture windows facing the beach and allowing the dull overcast light to filter through the area. A grand piano was sitting at one edge of the room, a Seychelles flag draped over its surface, and in the center of the room was a ring of couches surrounding a large circular table.

To the left, a fairly large kitchen was separated by a counter, and to the right were several closed doors, most likely leading to bedrooms or other such amenities. A staircase along the left wall near the door lead up to a second floor, a railing running along the edge of the floor, so that you could look down to the main floor from the above.

A collective "wow" and a few "dang"s left the group as we stepped into the large room, everyone picking up the same general details I'd noticed. Michelle smiled a bit at our amazement, her eyes scanning over all of us.

"The second floor is all the guest rooms, you guys will have to decide how you want to divide yourselves up, since there are five beds and ten of you. A couple of you could take the couch or you could share, whichever. Once everyone's settled in we can head over and find someplace to eat and all that..!" Michelle seemed to be pretty used to having mass amounts of guests like this.. I guess it's a rich thing?

Snapping out of my thoughts, I looked around and noticed everyone else had already left to organize sleeping arrangements. I rushed up the stairs, passing by each room in search of Leon. In the first room, Feliciano, Ludwig, and Kiku were settling in, I guessed they were all going to sleep together? The second room contained a boy with glasses and a strange curled ahoge and Gilbert, who were both arguing loudly in…German perhaps? In the third room was Yong Soo and…what was her name? Madeline? The fourth room was empty, though I could hear voices in the fifth. Sitting my bag down on the bed, I stepped over to the window, pulling the blinds open and looking outside. It was rather peaceful, the clouds were beginning to part slightly, as it seemed, the storm was moving north. I was proven wrong by Leon in the end.

I heard footsteps on the carpet, glancing over my shoulder to see Leon. He had his bag slung over one shoulder, a bit of a glare in his eyes. I heard someone else walk past the door, but I couldn't catch who it was.

"Hey, Icey." He muttered, setting his bag down on the bed next to mine. "You're cool with me sleeping with you right?" For a millisecond something other than question flashed in his brown eyes.

"Frankly I don't know if I'd be safe, what if you tried some kind of funny business~?" My joking tone caused Leon to huff as I sat down on the bed, leaning my palms against the comforter. Stepping around the bed, Leon leaned over me, his left index finger resting against my chest.

"What if I _was_ to start something~? It doesn't really matter where I sleep, I'll get to you somehow." He rested his palm against me, pushing me down. My heart rate increased.

"You _really_ get flustered that easily?" I asked, grabbing a pillow and setting it under my head. "Wow, that's embarrassing, gott forbid we ever had sex, you probably wouldn't last a minute!" Leon's mouth was agape, a bit of offense tainting his brow. The expression melted away nonetheless, Leon slowly climbing over me. He ended up straddling my waist with his legs, his hands on either side of my face, one tangling itself in my hair. I tried to move my head, only to discover the hand in my hair kept me from moving. I was essentially trapped.

"So.." He finally spoke. "Do you wanna like, find out how long I last~?" Leon's face was inches from mine when there was suddenly a snicker in the hall that caused us both to look up. At the edge of the doorway, a video camera pointed into the room. I pushed Leon off before walking outside of the room, Leon following. Holding the camera was Eliza, her other hand cupping her face as if to keep herself quiet.

"Like, enjoying the show?" Leon snickered. She nodded quickly, her face painted red.

"Well that's too bad..because part 2 charges admission fees." I grabbed Leon by the arm, pulling him back into the room and shutting the door.

There was an audible "Aww c'mon!" outside the room as I moved to find my homework. Seeing me, Leon grumbled, laying on the bed next to me.

"Icey, seriously? Homework on our weekend trip?" His voice was drowning in complaint.

"Yes, 'seriously'. If I don't finish everything tonight there's no way I can do anything fun tomorrow!" That seemed to change his mind.

"Okay so, if I help you get everything done, you'll totally do something fun with me tomorrow, right?" He leaned heavily on my shoulder. Sighing, I nodded, causing him to smirk and start grabbing at my schoolwork. "Then like, what are we waiting for?!"


End file.
